Jazzer’s mogwai stood where he could view the security guards and squatted down on its heels while pondering what his next action would be. Patience was something that he could probably have plenty of if need be, but he was being paid to find out information and he would not find it by just standing around here. He would have to be good to get by both of the watchdogs, and he could not be too sure if those guards were programs or other netrunners. Caution and luck would be something that he would need plenty of.

Pulling up the menu, he selected the Run Program option and selected his invisiblity program. Jazzer felt the sheet of flickering, iridescent sheet drape over him. He hoped that this worked and started to stride forward. If he was successful, then he would find the information on thsi Merideth that he was looking for.

Meat Location: The Farris Family Inn – Night City – 10:14pm; The Net: Night City Grid – Night City University Net Campus/Administration Building.
Mere nanoseconds had passed for Jazzer as his Mogwai icon crouched while he made his assessment. It was hardly any time at all that passed while the netrunner accessed the menu and activated his invisibility program. Then, with a multitude of additional icons (most preconstructed rentals offered by the university for the purpose of experiencing the Net and making attending virtual class settings) streaming past, Jazzer slipped past the watchdogs and through the doors.

He found himself inside a large, monolithic hall of marble and granite. There were holographic signs showing class schedules for the day complete with their location on campus and whether they were virtual or physical hovering in the center of the hall like the departure and arrival times at the maglev station. A crowd of students stood around it, some for only a slight period of time before darting off, while others seemed rooted to the spot. There were also various signs posted over the numerous doors down the length of the hall:

• Admissions
• Class Schedules
• Continuing Education
• Donations
• Courses
• Graduation
• Housing
• Parking
• President’s Office
• Archives
• Sports
• Supercomputing
• Technology
• Arts
• Calendars
• Directory Assistance
• Employment
• Libraries
• Campus Maps
• Publications & News
• Student Housing
• Faculty

There was security inside as well; more of the uniformed, dog-walking icons that prowled about, heads swiveling, snouts snuffling.

Meat Location: The Farris Family Inn – Night City – 10:14pm; The Net: Night City Grid – Night City University Net Campus/Administration Building.

Croaker had said "Now Firewind your role in this is very important for as a Medic I'm hoping you may know how to whip up something to knock Mery Deth out cold to make her easier to transport. Once Spiff has hopefully used his skills at persuasion to have gotten a lot of the Wild Things out hunting for us somewhere other then where we really are. BullsEye, and myself use the Silenced SMG’s from the cops and Coyote using Preacher’s Silenced SMG move into the building and extract you guys and Mery Deth. While we are doing this Spiff and Peacekeeper take out any guards around her and Firewind drugs her so that once we get there we throw her over a shoulder and head out of the building. With Preacher just around the corner in the van with the engine running waiting for us to make it out, once we are all hopefully safe in the van with Mery Deth off we go."

He wanted Firewind and Peacekeeper to act as Spif's bodyguards to deliver a message. Not a great plan, but at least it was a plan. Firewind would definitely remember to personally thank DigitalScribe for getting him involved with this. He did not like it, but his drive to always succeed forced him on. "Croaker, as I have told you I am a doctor not a gunslinger. I have reservations about administering drugs in the manner you describe. I have nothing better to offer."

>Frirewind then took the time to adjust his sidearm in the manner suggested to him by his firearm mentor, a rather infamous solo called the Sandman. Looking at Spif, he smiled and said "The name is Firewind."

The Mean Streets – Night City – 11:14pm
Frankie was just about to walk forward again when Guardian gave his warning. A sniper? I missed that!? Scanning the rooftop it took him only a moment to pick out what he’d overlooked previously since now he had something to look for that was defined. He’s already worth his weight in Euro…
“All right,” DigitalScribe sucked his bottom lip, tasting the acidic rain and making a sour expression as a result. “I’ve changed my mind. We’re not going to knock and ask for an interview.”

The media scanned their surroundings once more, then leaned against the building they were adjacent to. “Well, we’ve got two ways we can play this near as I can tell: offensive or defensive. If we play defensive, we’ll have to sit back and wait for Croaker to make his move, then follow on his coattails and make sure we’ve got ourselves the story. The pros to this are that we’re not the ones likely to draw fire. The cons are that we have to sit out in the rain for a bit, or find ourselves a perch that’ll provide cover and a view while we wait, and there’s the chance that Croaker and his buddies’ll destroy the story before we can get to it.

“Now, I’m all for avoiding bullets, but I’m not afraid to get in the thick of it provided we walk away with something.” Frankie returned to chewing his bottom lip for a moment before settling on a plan.

“Ok, so we go in here,” the media gave the wet brick of the building he was leaning against a pat. “and find ourselves a window to look out of that gives us a view of the Hole. Then we wait and watch—hell, it’s a gamble, but right now I don’t know what else to do without causing this whole thing to blow up in our face, and I ain’t too keen on the idea of putting you against the whole of the Wild Things; no offense. Think you can get us in?”

The building to which he was referring was a north-facing, four-storied, gray brick building with a rear entrance on the parking lot side that was about ten to fifteen paces ahead of them, and a north-facing entrance, street side. Due to the vision enhancements, Guardian could make out the small details of the door handle—a flat, panel grip under which the lock hole was set. Without the enhanced view it was certainly easy to see that the back porch light was on and that moving to such a position would easily put them in full view of whoever was watching the roof. The front entrance wouldn’t be any less conspicuous being on the street side, and all of the lower windows were barred. There was a call box on the left side of the rear door; one of those kind with a little round button for each apartment, and a security camera in a reinforced casement over the door.

(OOC: Remember, the URL for the map is here: MAP)

The Mean Streets – Night City – 11:16pm

As Croaker awaited any questions Firewind was the first to speak up. Turning to the medic Croaker listened as he spoke.

"Croaker, as I have told you I am a doctor not a gunslinger. I have reservations about administering drugs in the manner you describe. I have nothing better to offer."
"Ok understood, would you rather exchange places with Preacher, he goes in instead of you, while you wait for us in the van. The only thing with that is could you possibly show Preacher how to successfully inject Mery Deth with the knockout drug? I’d hate to accidentally kill her."
Croaker awaited Firewind's reply....

Frirewind replied to Croaker's question with a simple "No. I'll do it."

With a nod of his head Croaker acknowledged the medic's willingness to put himself in danger.

"Ok anybody else got anything to add now's the time to speak up."

"Ok, look. If we're going to walk up to the Wild Things' hideout and lie, we'd better do it right. It ain't gonna be easy justifying 3 bodyguards, or even two. Moreover, I can't guarantee that you will be permitted to enter with me. We need to approach cautiously and watch for any exterior guards before we walk up to the door and start blasting if they don't let us in. Basically, where I'm going with this is where the hell are you all gonna be to back us up?" He sighed, glancing out the back door as he prepared to move, replacing his sidearm to his belt.

"This may not work one bit. If it doesn't, you all will do better to slaughter these boys and girls wholesale. We have two ways to get Queen Mary out unscathed. Either we knock her out when she's not expecting it, or we scare her into submission. Gang bangers are naturally the scared type. If we slaughter all of her protection, she'll likely be praying to remain unharmed." He didn't like arguing with Croaker, but it seemed like the whole plan hinged on Spiff's lying skills.

"Look, if I'm going to lie, I'm going to do it right. He stared at Peacekeeper for a moment before glancing at Firewind again. I appreciate you sending me in with the best of your group here, but I can't say that I trust them after the warm welcome you gave us."

He put his left hand on shoulder and pointed toward The Hole. "I want my man watching my back from outside The Hole. When we go in, I'll do everything I can to get us all in without a hassle, but expect anything, because the best lie I can give them is the most plausable. In other words, I'm going to be screaming at them for not knowing I was coming within a few seconds. Odds are the big guy is up there with his unit, so be prepared for him to come for us quick." He glanced again at the floor, frustrated with all the talking he had to do just to keep these hyperactive nutcases from pulling guns too soon.

"That's all I've got to say peeps. So whadoya say Croaker?"

Croaker listened as Spiff spoke up detailing his doubts about Croakers idea.

“So Spiff what your telling me is you’re a lousy liar, I thought that was a prerequisite to being a fixer.” Pausing a moment Croaker took a deep breath and moved his hand through his hair.
“Ok so don’t lie, tell them the truth tell them everything you know about us, just leave out Peacekeeper and Firewind as only those two will be with you. Pass them off as your bodyguards you should be able through your contact inside to get them in at least armed with handguns. These Wild Things strike me as cocky and full of themselves, a pair of handgun armed bodyguards are not gonna faze them too much on their own turf. Tell them about one of their missing members, a guy with a Mohawk and that from what you know from your snitches he gave the Hole up to a media named Digitalscribe who passed it to us. I will give you his local and you can use that as a way to get them to send more of their number after him. As for Coyote well he will be covering your back as he, I and Bullseye will be the ones coming in to pull you out, or would you rather have him waiting in the van. Your call Mr. Fixer, Preacher or Coyote, makes no never mind to me." Again Croaker paused.
"But let’s get a few things straight right up front. One, Spring Heeled Jack is bank rolling this and the main thing he said to me was to keep this whole Op as low key as possible.
Killing 4-5 bangers can be blown off as a rival gang type hit. Killing 10-20 bangers you’re talking all out gang war and the Cops and Media will be all over the story like stink on s***. So that’s why we need to get as many out as we can to make the numbers against us fewer in both having to fight our way in and the number of bodies left behind.
Two, If you ain’t got the balls to put our rude welcome of you behind you and trust us to do this right, tell me now, and then be on your way. There’s too much going on right now for us to worry about your cahoones. So in or out, again its your call."
Croaker as he seemed to be doing a lot tonight waited for Spiff’s reply.

(OOC: Ok I know I spelled the Spanish word for balls (Cahoones) wrong so if anyone knows the correct spelling please let me know in the Q/A section.
Thanks)

Hmmm, decisions, decisions, decisions. Several of them now lay before him. Although there were still the dogs about, they didn’t frighten him anymore, seeing as how his invisibility was strong enough to get him past the first set without much problem. But he also knew what inevitably happened to runners that got too cocky and threw caution to the wind. No, he would still pay close attention to the dogs, just to be on the safe side.

Jazzer’s mogwai paced the length of the hall to get a clear picture of what each door said on its face. He stopped in front of the one the said admissions on the way back down the virtual hall. He figured that it would likely be his best bet, so he reached and twisted the handle. He was getting deeper into the college’s mainframe and knew it. He hoped it would let him in without any difficulty.

(Alright, if door is locked with pass key, I will use jackhammer on it.)

Spiff sighed. This Croaker gato was missinterpretting everything this evening. "I never said I couldn't lie. I said I'm gonna do it right. Most runners like you don't even know what a real lie is all about. I have to spew a crapload of truth to squeeze out a little lie that goes truly unnoticed." He smiled, putting his hands together and drying them off. "Also, I never said I wasn't in. I said I want my man backing me up. I'm still pissed I had to ditch Roller when we didn't even leave the locale as it is. In any case, thanks for the extra info. Knowing about the mohawk will be very useful. Let's get moving; Queen Mary ain't gonna capture herself." Spiff opened the back door of the van and stepped out, dusting his jacket off, not that it mattered in the rain. It was getting late and he needed to go pay Elizabeth a visit to repay her kindness. He wondered if he could drag any of the rest of the group with him for that task. At the very least, he could use that Firewind fellow.

"Alright then, sorry for my over thinking there. But before you head to the Hole allow Bullseye, Coyote and myself 15 minutes to get into postion to watch the Hole and to be ready to come to you when everything is in place.
Once the 3 of us are in postion I will call you and you head for the Hole amd a meet with your contact ok."
Turning to Preacher.

"Once we are all in place take the van and park somewhere close by and be ready for my call ok. If no other questions lets roll."
With that, followed by Bullseye and Coyote, and all armed with the silenced SMG's Croaker moved out to gain a good staging area to await Spiff's entry....

Frirewind followed Spif out of the van adn took up a rear guard position. He did not like the idea of becoming a target and started scanning for possible snipers and holes where he could hide.

OOC: Ok let me try this one more time.

IC:
Bullzeye turned to Croaker and in a low tone as they exited the van, “I am the last one out, if I miss the van blaze without me and get the funds for this run. Then you and that eye candy you have been sniffing all night get the hell out of this line of work. I will see you on the other side.” Bullzeye shot a smile to Croaker and then moved out.

The Mean Streets – Upper East Side – Night City – 12:23am
Preacher had remained mostly quiet since Spiff and Coyote had joined them in the van. He watched from beneath his flat-rimmed gunfighter’s hat and didn’t say a thing until they were ready to go. Then, he gave a nod as the others prepared to leave and said in a low tone, “Don’t know if it matters much where yer plan’s concerned, pardner, but should it come down t’ a tussle, I don’t know what good I’ll be in the chuckwagon. Sure, I can put ‘er in drive, tickle the accelerator a little, but when it comes to leavin’ Dodge, I’m no wheelman if ya catch my drift.”

Of course, as he filled Croaker in on his disposition, the gunman moved behind the wheel.

The Mean Streets – Upper East Side – Night City – 12:26am
Meat Location: The Farris Family Inn – Night City – 10:14pm; The Net: Night City Grid – Night City University Net Campus/Administration Building.
The door was not locked. It swung open almost before the Mogwai’s three-fingered hand had even touched the knob. Had the administration building been an actual building the room that opened before Jazzer would have been impossible to construct. The sheer size of the room was confounding and it seemed to go on forever. Row upon row of old-fashioned filing systems were marred in their uniformity by the occasional computer monitor and box from the turn of the century. There were plenty of icons floating about as varied in their configuration as the students themselves, but despite the congregation it was easy to spot the administrative assistants and staff. These were each in the form of bouncing balls with hundreds of small, waving tentacles sprouting from either side. When they spoke, a light in the center of their sphere would pulse with the rhythm of the words. These tentacle balls were darting in and out from among the other icons offering assistance and answering questions.

Meat Location: The Farris Family Inn – Night City – 10:14pm; The Net: Night City Grid – Night City University Net Campus/Administration Building.